Treasure Hunt
by lightofeilia
Summary: A birthday oneshot fic for Squall! The gang tries to get him to go to his party. Happy Birthday Squall!


Not one of them could agree on the best thing to do that night, for their beloved commander, as he hated parties. Although he had opened up a little ever since Rinoa came, even the angelic sorceress could not get him to go to a party. Not even if it was for him. They sat in the meeting room discussing what to do on the 23rd of August. Which was about three days away.

"Okay, we'll go undercover."

"Yeah, we'll kidnap him, force him to the party."

"Yeah, or just take his Lionheart, threaten him, and make him come."

"And then he'll take the Lionheart, and slice us all into _cells._"

"Why can't he make things easier for us?" groaned Zell, crumpling up the piece of paper with Selphie's happy drawings and Rinoa's doodles and lobbing it over his head. And into the pile of crumpled papers the happy, newcomer went. The pile was getting gradually bigger, and still they could not think of a plan that would not backfire. There were pictures of Squall being happy and smiling with a whur of blue attached to it, no doubt drawn by Rinoa, and mutilated by Irvine with a blue crayon. Selphie had drawn lots and lots of yellow and pink ribbons around the Quad, she seemed more preoccupied with decorations. Zell had drawn numerous pictures, all of which included him not having a happy ending. Irvine had drawn a naked woman.

"Rinoa, can't you try persuading him?" pleaded Quistis, rubbing her forehead, looking over at said female.

"I can't. We did that three years ago, didn't we? And what a disaster it was."

"Remind me again?" asked Irvine.

"Rinoa bugged him for two weeks, which resulted in a big argument. So in the end, we didn't have a party," said Selphie, stretching and resting her head on the table.

"And two years ago was even worse," said Zell. His carefully prepared plan had backfired on him two years ago, when he and the rest of Garden alerted him to the Quad using the Garden's alarm. They had Rinoa burst into his office to say that Zell was severely injured. Upon arrival, Squall had shot everyone a death glare, and he had also looked like he was about to spontaneously combust, and was probably thinking of pulling Zell along with him. On the spot, Squall had ordered the cafeteria and everyone else in the Garden not to give Zell any form of hotdogs for a month or risk the consequences.

"And two years ago, we set him up. So much for a surprise. He certainly didn't look surprised."

"Pissed, more like."

"He was _more_ than pissed. Poor Zell..." said Rinoa, giggling as Zell shot her an annoyed look. That was probably the worst punishment the commander could have come up with.

"Okay, let's think ... let's attack his weaknesses ... what is his weakness?"

"Zell, this is the mighty commander we're talking about. Undefeatable. He _has_ no weaknesses," said Rinoa, looking proud.

"Yes he has. It's you," said Irvine, winking at her and she casually casted Float in his direction, causing him to shoot up to the ceiling, yelping. Selphie and Zell cheered, whooping as Irvine did a weird sort of cartwheel in the air, controlled by the sorceress. A pronounced cough and clearing of throat made the silence return tenfold in a nanosecond.

"What's going on?" asked Squall, absorbing the horrified looks his friends were giving him.

There was a rush as everyone scrambled about picking up pieces of paper that had ended up on the floor, whereas Rinoa distracted him by blocking his view of the room. Irvine was still up in the air, another distraction for the commander, waving his hat in his direction.

"Nothing," said Rinoa sweetly, gazing into his eyes and smiling.

Squall would have snorted, but he did not.

"Right. Laguna's coming any minute now. I'll need to use the room. Could you guys clear out?"

"Right-o, commando," said Zell, standing beside Quistis as close as he possibly could, to hide Selphie burning the pieces of paper behind them. Squall turned to leave, after mumbling "I smell burnt paper."

"Close," muttered Irvine. "Now let me down!"

"Now what do we do?" said Rinoa, after everyone had piled out of the meeting room, and settled down at the cafeteria to continue their discussion about the party.

"We think, obviously," drawled Irvine, tipping his hat upwards and looking particularly obnoxious.

"I'm going to cast Ultima."

"Okay, okay! Well ... "

"Mister ...?" said a tinny voice somewhere on Zell's left side, interrupting the conversation and death threats. It was a boy, and he was clutching on to some pieces of papers as though they were his life.

"Yes?" answered Quistis kindly, as Zell didn't seem to have anything to say.

'Well ... I wanted to ... look under his chair ... but ..." his voice trailed off as everyone at the table gave him weird looks.

"What for?"

"Well, my friends and I are playing treasure hunt, and the clue leads me here, and there's also a piece of paper stuck under there, so ... "

"Oh, ok," said Zell, and he reached underneath and pulled out the paper. After scrutinizing it closely, he gave it back to the boy. He muttered a quick thank-you and ran off excitedly.

"Hey, remember how we played treasure hunt when we were young?" said Quistis eagerly.

"Yeah, Sis would write out the clues and paste it around the house and we'll end up with a new toy or something."

There was silence as the idea set in, and after three and half minutes, Selphie started squealing.

000000000

Today was the day.

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy birthdays. It wasn't that he didn't like presents. It wasn't that he didn't like his friends. He's not unhappy about it, but when it becomes a big thing with lots of liquor and dances, it becomes too much for him to handle. He hated being the center of attention. And he still is, being commander of Balamb Garden. Squall couldn't decide if his friends threw parties for him because they were his friends, or because he was commander. He suspected some planning was going on two days ago, when he had burst in upon them in the meeting room. In fact, he caught sight of a miniature him strangling a miniature Zell on paper, no doubt drawn by said person, and he allowed himself a chuckle.

Today was the day.

How should he react today? Truth be told, he felt a little guilty as he counted all the times they had tried to throw birthdays for him, and he had walked out on them. And they weren't the least bit mad at him.

_Maybe I should just thank them, _thought Squall silently as he walked past a few people out of his office to the cafeteria. As he glanced around, nobody seemed to realize that it was his birthday. _Odd_, he thought, as he had expected some sort of crazy party waiting to happen. Or maybe that was for later. But no one had wished him yet, and it was already lunchtime.

"Hi," purred a female voice, and he turned around to look. It was Rinoa.

"Hi," replied Squall, and they both set off to the cafe together. Usually the six of them ate together during lunch, and sometimes during dinnertime too, if Squall wasn't cooped up in his office. They ordered their food and sat down to eat. Squall and Rinoa made small talk as they waited for the rest of them to arrive.

"By the way," said Rinoa cheerfully.

"Hm?"

"Happy birthday."

"...Thanks."

Rinoa beamed at him, and then suddenly screamed and leapt out of her seat to one side. Seeing her reaction, Squall stood up immediately in alarm and drew his gunblade, turning around to face whatever it is had made Rinoa scream ... only to be splattered all over in some sort of black substance. Cursing, he wiped some of the substance out of his eyes to look. A horrified cadet lay in front of him, gaping, clutching an empty tub by her side.

"I'm so sorry! I tripped, and fell.. I didn't mean to ... Commander!" she gasped, standing up to salute as Squall groaned. As it was his birthday, he didn't feel like punishing her ... and it wasn't even her fault either. Rinoa was giggling, and he shot her an annoyed look.

"At ease. Clean up this mess," said Squall shortly as he trudged off to his dorm for a good shower, with Rinoa by his side.

"Rinoa, can you help me clean my gunblade? I'll just have a quick shower," said Squall, giving her Lionheart and disappearing into the bathroom.

"Okay," said Rinoa happily, then she waited for the sounds of water running from the bathroom before she took out a walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

000000000

"Did you see the look on his face?"

"Nah, he looked normal to me."

"I don't think he was that pissed off."

"Shh, he's coming! Scatter!"

Zell and Irvine fled in opposite directions, chuckling as Squall made his way out of the dormitory. He was too preoccupied in reading something in his palm that he didn't see them. When he came out of the shower, he had found a note on his desk, most probably written by Rinoa, and he knew he had fallen into the trap.

_**Race me!**_

**PS : Don't be pissed off! We promise we'll take good care of it! This clue will lead you to the next person with another clue. **

"I'm going to kill all of them," he snarled, causing a few nearby cadets to edge away from him, and for Irvine and Zell to run back to the "base". So they had a treasure hunt planned for him. And the worse thing is he couldn't back out of it because he needed his gunblade. _I feel so vulnerable,_ thought Squall, groaning inwardly. **Race me ...** _what on earth do they mean by _**race me ...? **Sighing, he put away the note and pondered. As he decided on whether or not to find any one of the orphanage gang and threaten the rest using that one person, or to simply follow along in their little game, he saw a boy running towards him. He recognised this boy as the one who "trained" everyday by running rounds around the building.

"Hey ... wait!" Squall called out, causing the boy to stop.

"Yes, Commander?"

"I... ah..." said Squall, not sure what to say. The boy smirked. Selphie and gang were watching from above, careful not to be seen.

"Am I correct in assuming that you have a note, and I have to race you to acquire it?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright. Just one round. If I beat you, you give me the note."

"Gotcha!' said the boy, and they walked to the starting line, which was directly outside the lift. The boy let out a sharp whistle, and yelled, "The Commander's gonna race me! Come and watch!" Immediately everyone dropped whatever it is they were doing to watch, even from upstairs. There was alot of cheering and whooping, and another cadet came out to Squall and the boy.

"Ready, set, go!" said the cadet, and Squall and the boy took off.

00000000000

"You're good," said Squall, shortly after he had regained his breath. The boy was beside him on the floor, panting.

"I have never, run so hard in my entire life! Here you go," said the boy, pulling out a note from his pocket and giving it to Squall. He muttered a thanks, and ordered the audience to disperse and go back to whatever it is they were doing before this. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Squall felt... as though he enjoyed it. He allowed himself a small smile, and read the second note.

_**Moomba!**_

**PS : I'll never forget the D-District Prison where we all almost died.**

_D-District Prison...? Moomba? _He thought hard, thought back to the time where they were caught and thrown into prison. A Moomba had helped them, and the Moomba had said ...

"Laguna!" he mouthed, and set off to find the President of Esthar. Finally he found him, on the second floor deck.

"Hey, workaholic! S'up?" said Laguna cheerfully. Squall nodded at his greeting, and cut straight to the point.

"Ah jeez... you're no fun," said Laguna, pouting, when Squall told him what he wanted from him. Squall rolled his eyes.

"Okay ... here's the deal. I do have the clue, but you're going to have to play me to get it," he said, taking out a deck of cards. And so they began to play.

0000000000000000

It was a long and hard game, but Squall was quite good, and so he managed to scrape a win. Laguna sighed, and gave him the clue. Squall turned to walk off, but Laguna stopped him.

"Happy birthday, son... I'm sorry I wasn't there to see you when you were born," said Laguna sheepishly, looking at his feet. Squall paused, unsure of what to say.

"Thank you," said Squall. Laguna started, he looked up, but Squall was already gone. He had expected some sort of harsh rebuttal. Evidently his son had just forgiven him. He smiled to himself, and fingered his ring.

When he was sure nobody was looking at him, Squall let a small smile play out onto his lips, and he felt extremely at ease. Shaking his head, he read the next clue.

_**This is your last clue! Find any one of the orphanage gang and catch us! Tee-hee!**_

Evidently this was written by Selphie. He groaned. This was not what he wanted to do, look like a fool running after anyone of them. Since he was on the second floor, he checked the classrooms, but they weren't there. He ran to the lift and waited impatiently for it to bring him to the first floor. He asked a passing cadet, but she shook her head and smiled somewhat mysteriously at him.

Suddenly he heard someone shouting "Instructor Trepe! Instructor Trepe!" and he whirled around to see. He saw Quistis give him a terrified look and ran off, with Squall haring after her. He was tempted to yell "Give me back my gunblade!" in hysterics but didn't. Quistis was too far ahead of him, she was going to dash into the quad ...

"Everyone! Stop her!" yelled the Commander as loud as he could, and the cadets obeyed in alarm. They barricaded Quistis and stopped her from entering the Quad or the Cafeteria. Squall finally reached her and thanked the cadets, keeping a firm grip on Quistis's shoulder.

"You know, that's cheating. You didn't catch me, they did," said Quistis, smiling.

"Too bad. Now give me my gunblade," said Squall, glaring at her. Quistis raised her eyebrow, and expertly wrenched herself out of his grip and took off, laughing. Squall groaned and clenched his fists, until he spotted something Quistis had left behind on the floor. It was another note.

_**Happy Birthday! You'll get your gunblade back if you go to Balamb tonight at seven. It'll be a party for just the six of us! See you there!**_

Squall read it over and over again before he finally smiled and set off for the parking lot.

END

Birthday fic for Squall! Happy Birthday Squalll!


End file.
